(S2) Episode 3: The Horsemen
by J. David Reed
Summary: Two inter-galactic thieves, one of which is trying to wholly understand life and the other of which simply wants to improve his power and wealth, find themselves trailed by the Doctor as he searches for Carltesque - among other issues. Cont. from Episode 2.
1. Chapter 1: Lussi

'There's no way this is going to work,' Lussi said, her hands shaking over a button. She held a small circular device with a single red button on which was linked to her chestplate, an armoured, scaled piece of clothing with wiring casing the seams and technology sewn into the metallic fabric.

'Of course it will. You've done it a thousand times. Just don't die like last time, and you'll be fine.'

'Oh yeah, 'just don't die', nice little tidbit there Jaymse. Real nice.'

'Just don't die. I hate having to reload you. Why did you have to use all of your lives again?'

'Well, this took a few tries to get right. I think I've got it. I really do.'

She gave Jaymse a hopeful smile before pressing the button and holding it down. A blue line sprouted from the red base, blinking at her. 'Sycorax,' she said as clearly as she could. A figure of a Sycorax female shot up from the blue line and she pressed the button.

A quick, blinding blue light shrouded her body and she smiled. She couldn't feel it at all. Brilliant!

Jaymse sat and watched, almost unimpressed, but his gaze gave him away. He was curious.

The person that emerged from the fading blue light no longer looked like Lussi. It was a Sycorax, bone-face and all. She smiled.

'It worked!' she squealed. 'No more memory loss! No pain! I got it working!'

'You always had it working,' Jaymse said. 'You built the damn thing to begin with.'

'I know, but now it _actually_ works!'

Jaymse sighed. 'Lussi, you wanna go hunting?'

'I hate it when you call it that.'

'You know what I mean. You want any species in particular? I know we lost out TARDIS, but we can still get around. I've managed to salvage a few things from our hunts in the past. We have a ship.'

'Umm, I'm not sure there's any that I'm in desperate need of... unless-'

'Nope.'

'You didn't even listen to me!'

'We're not going Dalek-hunting.'

'But I want to know! Especially now! Look at me, all Sycorax-y, no sides effects. It works!'

'I'm not letting you turn into a Dalek. It's not like you'd just have to brush past one. You'd need to get up-close and personal with the squidgy stuff inside.'

'You're not my dad.'

'No, I'm not. But I'm still in charge.'

She huffed. 'What happened to all of our team missions? We had a good thing going. Apart from all the dying and stuff.'

'Yeah, well, that's why we got out. We left it behind, Lussi. We left it.'

She smiled. 'We got away!'

She was only young, Lussi. Jaymse thought that maybe something had happened to her, something that made her the way she was. It wasn't that she was stupid or anything, he just felt that, more often than not, she would... switch off. Stop listening. Stop caring. Stop understanding. She'd go into her own world that had it's own rules and laws and she lived by those ones.

That's what made it so easy.

Lussi pressed the button and held it. 'Revert.'

The blue light engulfed her and, when it revealed her, she was back in her original form. She smiled.

'Yeah, we got away,' Jaymse said. 'Now, where's your list?'

'My list?'

'You have a list of all of your favourite species. Where is it?'

'Oh!' She darted off, her small frame disappearing behind a curtain. Jaymse sat down into a soft chair that moulded to his shape perfectly. Looking up, he saw the curtain between this central room and his bedroom, perfectly still, on the right. In the centre was the one to Lussi's room, moving slightly after her quick passage through. On the left was the curtain that lead outside, into the market.

Jaymse had a fleeting thought about whether they were going to have enough to sell come the Purchase Week. They had plenty, but it wasn't how much you had - it was the quality of your stock.

He and Lussi had a slightly... morally questionable way of getting their stock once a month - stealing. Kind of.

Lussi was brilliant, that's the core of it. She was a genius, even before everything that happened. And Jaymse had always been able to get what he wanted. He had a special skill of his own that he wasn't sure Lussi was even aware of. If she was, she never mentioned it. He never brought it up.

This brilliance, along with Lussi's impressive technology, made it very easy for her to get into places they wouldn't usually be able to get within a thousand miles of. And if she could get into places, she could take things from them. Expensive things.

In return, these 'hunts' would most likely end with her coming into contact with a new species, and that was what she loved more than anything. That was her world.

Jaymse sometimes thought that it might just be a form of escape for her, but then again, she used to do it back when the Universe was awful and bloody. Perhaps she misses it. In any case, she likes to find new species, take a sample of DNA, and build her collection of possible creatures to become.

Lussi came back through, now with a small piece of paper in her hands.

'What's next on the list?' Jaymse asked her.

'There's the Daleks-'

'No! Lussi, you're not doing that!'

'Well, then there's nothing! I've finished my list.' She took a breath, 'Can we go find a new one?'

'A new one?'

'Discover a species. Explore a world! Like the Doctor!'

'The Doctor? That man is no role model, I'll tell you that.'

'But he was so... hopeful.'

'The man was Death.'

'He was life, too. Don't you remember? He saved us, and he helped us and we helped him. It was good, for a while.'

'Then everything got bad again.'

'We're okay now,' Lussi said with a small grin. 'Could we?'

'I'll think about it,' Jaymse relented.

Lussi squeaked, bounced with happiness, and bolted back into her room.


	2. Chapter 2: What does the Fox Hunt say?

'So,' Jaymse said as they made their way to the front curtain. They'd taken some of their TARDIS technology while they could, so they had a doorway that seemed to turn black, and then they were opening a door. It never registered with them where the change was, from pushing the curtain aside to turning a doorknob, but it just happened.

The thick, steel door opened out onto the market, but it's usually-busy, bustling feel was dead. Rain pelted the stalls. Creatures of all shapes and sized rushed past without giving a single item a second thought. It was still a few weeks until Market week. No one cared yet.

'Where d'ya want to go?' he asked her.

'Roxmanop!' she chimed, happily holding her face up to the hard rain. 'I love it on Roxmanop, plus there's always something new there. Someone new!'

'Roxmanop, that's a good hour-long journey. You bring a book?'

'Nope. I'm going to play with being a Judoon.'

'Judoon? Isn't it illegal to impersonate a member of the Shadow Proclamation, Lu?'

'Maybe, but they won't find me. I'm everywhere, anyone. Remember? That was my whole point.'

'Old times, Lu. What's your job now?'

'Cataloging as many species as possible. When we had the TARDIS, it was ever, but now, it's just whatever we can find.'

'And what's mine?'

'To take what you can. What you have to.'

'Excellent. Now,' he said as they moved out of the large Market and into the smaller streets of this large planet. They were in a particularly thick segment of city, where the brown buildings stretched up to the sky, but there was always a place for the market. Always. 'Roxmanop. What do you want to do there? It's a big place.'

'Yeah, but I want to go to the beaches there.'

'Ahh, the scarlet beaches. I hear they're quite spectacular. Bring lots of life into people.'

'And they bring lots of people, too,' Lussie chimed, happy. 'I hope we see a creature we've never met before.'

'Are you going in disguise?'

'Nahh, I'll just try a few on the trip over.'

They took a left down a wider stretch that lead to a huge port, to which thousands of ships were tethered, hovering over ground and water alike.

They followed a familiar route to their ship, which Lussi had named 'The Horseman'. Jaymse didn't like the name, but it was memorable, if nothing else.

He clicked in a code and scanned in his eye and the side door popped open, allowing the two to step inside and close the door behind them. He thought about the beaches of Roxmanop - he'd been there once before, a while ago. With Lussi. She'd loved it, but it was during the phase of her life when her psychological fallout was starting to show. He wasn't sure how much she'd remember of it.

It was a good place to hunt. The creatures there were often too relaxed to be fast-acting, and too happy to be suspicious. Perfect pickings.

The issue was finding anything to pick. People didn't tend to take their closest and most prized possessions to the beach but, hey, it was Lussi's turn to choose, after all. It was almost always her turn.

Jaymse settled into the single seat at the front while Lussi stood behind him, hands latched onto the sides of his huge leather chair.

He pressed a few buttons and hit a few levers and they were soon off, powering upwards into the smog, then out of the clouds and into endless black, sprinkled with Starlight. Beautiful.

On the way, Lussi tried a few forms that she'd done before, warming up to the newer ones. She started with her current favourite, the Sycorax, then a Judoon, then a Vespiform and a few other less-distinguishable insectoid species. Eventually she found herself facing her newest addition to the collection - a Zygon. Dangerous things, Zygons. Hard to get near and to touch, never mind get a sample - mind you, that was most of the fun of it.

She knew, however, that there was a certain drawback to this kind of technology that she'd never want to edit out. In fact, it was the part that made her want to keep on going. The psychology of each species.

As her body re-wrote itself, she found that the different surges of chemicals, brain size and capacity, body type and physiology all played a part in how she behaved as a person. Not only would it affect her whilst in that form, but it quite often had a over-lap effect afterwards, too. And, on top of that, the experience of what might happen to her whilst in these mindsets could easily shift how she saw the world in her original form. It was all very philosophical.

'We're about to land,' Jaymse announced just as Lussi reverted back into her usual humanoid shape, and she joined him in the front of house, looking down onto the beautiful green and red planet below.

'Roxmanop!' Lussi beamed as they descended down into a sea-side port that was only just able to keep The Horseman from dipping into the scarlet water.

As they departed and locked the ship, Jaymse made a quick sweep of the area. All around was the burnt brown sand being dragged by the red seas and creatures of all sizes and complexions bathing in the sunlight. Good turn-out.

The made their way to the beach on their right, where Lussi could already see at least two species of alien she'd never met before, and was tugging at Jaymse to let her grab a sample of sweat or something, just to let her try it out.

Jaymse, however, had noticed an aim of his own.

A young, fox-like alien sat on his crossed legs, meditating in the sun atop a solid-crystal plinth. His ears twitched, as though noticing that they were staring at him and his stool, and Jaymse quickly turned to ask Lussi, 'Have you got that species?'

'I think so...' she clicked the button on her pad, though for a second before saying tentatively 'Plothrite!'

She changed in a matter of seconds into a perfectly identical version of the male Fox-like Plothrite, only female and wearing clothes that made her out to be completely out of place.

Not giving half a damn, Lussi strolled over and started talking to the Plothrite, possibly flirting a little to keep his attention, and then strolled back over to Jaymse.

'He knows you're a thief who wants his chair,' she said.

'What about you?'

'He thinks I'm a Plothrite thief who wants his chair. Which, right now, I suppose I am.'

'Can you get it?'

'Possibly,' she thought, knowing she could. 'But I need something from you, Jaymse.'

'What is it?'

'A sweat sample from that Ylgrit'pl. I want it, and you need to get it.'

'What?!' he looked to where she was pointing, and saw what appeared to be a sentient lump of greasy slowly seeping into the sand. 'You have to kidding me.'

'Nope.'

'Balls.'


	3. Chapter 3: He

Jaymse swallowed a lump in his throat. His shoes dipped into the sand as he took slow step towards the Ylgrit'pl.

It stank.

Like really.

It smelt like wet socks feel.

Jaymse realised he was getting closer, and put on a smile, trying to remember what the traditional way to approach someone was on a tourist planet like this. They had conventions in place, he believed. It had, however, been a while since the two of them had taken a holiday, never mind to somewhere like Roxmanop.

'Greetings!' Jaymse grimaced as he approached the Ylgrit'pl. It turned to him and, he assumed, smiled. 'Jaymse, Human, Male.'

'Hullo!' the thing rang. It's voice was odd, even through the translator Jaymse had installed into his ear. 'Hawll, Ylgrit'pl. Male.'

'May I shake your hand?' Jaymse asked, hoping it would be that easy. He was having trouble keeping his breakfast in his stomach, he didn't want to be here long. One handshake and a sample would be acquired. Easy.

'Don't have hands,' Hawll laughed. Hi's mouth seemed to bubble from underneath the mess.

'Err, I must insist.'

'Must you?' If he had eyebrows, Jaymse imagined they would be raised.

'I must. It's customary, back on Earth.'

'Earth?' Hawll asked, looking Jaymse up and down. He sniffed. 'You don't smell like Earth.'

'Haven't been home in a while. I've actually got a stall on the Market, over on Lihoh.'

'You run a stall?'

'I do, friend.'

'Well, in that case you can get away, not-such-an-Earthling. Thieves, the lot of you.'

Jaymse nodded, and walked behind Hawll before slowing. He took a flask from the inside pocket of his waistcoat and scraped it against Hawll's back.

Jaymse gagged.

'What was that?!' Hawll cried out, trying to shuffle round to see him, but Jaymse took off running, slowly feeling the seaside air push back into his nostrils, replacing the thick stench of Ylgrit'pl sweat.

He handed Lussi the flask. 'There you go. Now go get me my stool.'

'Already got it,' she smiled, still in her Plothrite form. He only now noticed that she was, indeed, sat on the gem-like pedestal. He glanced over to where the male Plothrite had been, but he was gone.

'Where'd he go?' Jaymse asked.

'He's waiting somewhere. He gave me an address, said to bring the chair. It was a 'goodwill gesture' or something. I don't care.'

'What did you say you would do?'

'Anything. I made it quite clear.'

Jaymse smiled. 'We might make a little thief of you yet.'

'What do you mean?'

'Never mind. Let's just go before that lump of... ugh... gets up and follows. Or your new friend.'

'I think he might be a little deluded.'

'You think?'

'I think he thought I was going to follow him.'

'Why would he think that?'

'Because I told him I would.' They started walking back towards The Horseman, and Lussi started laughing. 'I got a chair from a Plothrite.' She laughed again. 'Ha!'

Jaymse smiled, holding the stool under his leg when he heard Hawll over his shoulder, yelling something in a language he didn't know.

Lussi and Jaymse giggled like idiots as they climbed onto The Horseman, and set off without a second thought to the poor Fox. The Horseman climbed into the air, forcing Hawll to stay far enough away for them to laugh at him out of the window.

Jaymse was the first to stop laughing as he saw a figure through the fog and smoke from their ship; a face he really didn't want to see.

He said nothing.

They set off home.

Lussi, happy from the day's success, was playing with becoming a Ylgrit'pl, much to Jaymse's annoyance. He attempted to ignore the sudden, piercing stench of Lussi's new option, but it was all too much. Gagging was a reflex that wouldn't stay restricted.

Even so, he was distracted. That face. It was haunting.

Hours later, they touched down. Lussi, naive as ever, bounced out and into her room to tinker and edit. Jaymse, feeling altogether less bouncy, sat and looked over some numbers for the stall. They had plenty of income, but he was bothered. He should have used his gift, but it's not usually so public as it was. He doesn't often spend money on food, not for him anyway. He didn't need it - or at least, he wouldn't, if he'd used his 'gift'.

Anyway, he'd just sneak off in the night, Lussi's a heavy sleeper, so it shouldn't be too hard, or at least it wouldn't. Not now he'd seen _him_.

If _he_ was following them, or even looking for them, it'd be a hard job staying hidden. It wasn't the kind of situation you get out of. They'd been silent for so long, keeping their head's down, staying to themselves. They'd even managed to stop anyone from finding out about their technology - well, there was a slip-up, but it was kept quiet. Jaymse had taken care of it, and he'd felt great for a week afterwards.

Maybe that was enough. Maybe he'd find out about it.

Jaymse wasn't even sure it was who he thought it was.

It probably wasn't.

Maybe it was just someone who'd heard Hawll yelling and wanted to know what was going on. Or he'd seen Lussi steal the stool, and was trying to chase her down.

It could be anyone.

But was it_ him_?

Jaymse lay back in his comfy chair, the one he didn't let Lussi anywhere near. He lazed with his feet up on his new jewel stool, ready to be sold, and read through the numbers. They had enough money now, he thought. They could move on to the next planet with a market, or a city planet. Lussi would like the people, he guessed. Or maybe she'd enjoy a bit of peace, a little countryside. Some trees and fields. He knew he would.

He set an alarm to get him up in the depth of night so he could go and recuperate, away from Lussi. Away from preying eyes.

Hopefully, he wouldn't be hearing a knock at the curtain. He couldn't deal with him. Not with that part of his past. They'd gotten away, they didn't need it coming back. They got out.

They got out.


	4. Chapter 4: The Man He Couldn't Remember

Jaymse was up.

It was the middle the night. He could smell it. You know, the way night smells. Cold, sharp, but homely. His alarm pulsed in his ear, only audible to him. Lussi didn't need to know anything. She'd hate him if she did.

He stood, shaking off his short-lived sleep. He doesn't sleep often anymore - most nights start like this, and end with too much of a buzz for him to get any real slumber. He just makes his way with strength of will and adrenaline, plus the reapings of his nightly wanders.

Jaymse headed out into the empty skeleton of the Market. Stalls were bare, tents like his set up behind them, full of future sales and stock.

Making his way towards the docks, Jaymse noticed a tent with a light slipping out from between slightly ajar curtains to his left. He couldn't miss an opurtunity like that. It was so easy, and fast. It'd be nice to get his energy back quickly after a day like today.

Moving quietly towards the tent, he stuck to the shadows, letting the darkness enthral him. He took light steps and lighter breaths, pausing to listen for any commotion within.

Silence.

He brought up courage to look inside, into the light.

Jaymse flattened himself against the floor, peaking under the curtain to se inside - it was modern. Modern enough. The lights were white, the floor black, silver sweeping structures enveloping the walls into a fireplace, a chair, a sofa. A sofa upon which there was a snoring lump of a man, whose night was about to be ruined.

Jaymse knew him, he realised. He sold electronics. Very prestigous stuff, too. Made him a lot of money. A lot more than gemmed trinkets like him and Lussi. He was called something stupid. Something with too many vowels.

He stayed to the floor, knowing that the light being on gave him a masive disadvantage, but it also gave him the easy knowledge of knowing there was someone inside. It was easy pickings, if he could bring himself to take them.

Although, the light being on also could mean there was someone else about. It made sense. Maybe this was a really bad idea. It was. It was a really bad idea.

Jaymse knew that the instand the second person walked through. The man's daughter. She looked six, maybe seven. Both of them human. Both helpless.

Now, Jaymse had often done this with people with families. It wasn't hard if they were bad people, or even good people with good families. But with a daughter like that... It reminded him of Lussi. Bless her, she wasn't the kind of person who could take care of herself. She was brilliant ad fiesty when she wanted to be, but she'd forget to eat if he didn't remind her to.

He saw Lussi in her.

Damn.

This wasn't the right place.

He moved back and, with a spinning head, stood up. Although he was completely upright, outside and in the dark, he could feel eyes on him. the cold didn't feel welcoming anymore. It felt like it was hiding something from him.

He tried to walk, but his strength was plummetting and his leg gave out under him.

'I need...' he whispered. 'I need to...' He couldn't get it out. He didn't even know why he was trying to, it was massively incriminating.

On his knees, he looked back into the tent with the man and his daughter. She was gone. The light was off. He was snoring.

'I need to,' Jaymse told himself. 'I need to.'

Crawling in, he cursed himself. He screamed at himself for getting into this position, where it was one person a night. A place like this, people go missing all the time, but it would always get out. They'd always push it, and have to move. It was always his fault, and Lussi didn't know a thing.

The black stone floor was unnaturally warm against his shins as he dragged himself up to the man's side.

He couldn't even remember his name.

It was heartless. It was cold. So cold, Jaymse hesitated for a second, considering allowing himself to die. What if it all just ended. After everything, the wars and the fighting and the escape plans and the pain, it could end here. On the floor of some stranger's tent.

Or he could be a killer. It wasn't killing persay, but it was enough to get him and Lussi removed if he was caught. If he was found here, they'd put the peices together. all the mysterious deaths in the area, they'd know it was him. They'd assume Lussi had something to do with it, too.

He couldn't allow that.

He had to live.

He had to protect her.

He had to fight for her. Fight the addiction, or give in to it. Give in to the power. He could never tell her. She would hate him so much. She would hate everything about him. She was so innocent, so full of life - her only wish being to experience life from all perspectives, as all life forms. She wants to live so so much, and he was stealing that.

Jaymse took the man he couldn't remember's hand and squeezed. 'I'm sorry, my friend,' he said before allowing the energy to flow.

Suddenly his heart was pounding. He'd blacked out. It was day time. The Sun. Light. The Daughter. Lussi.

All of these thing impacted his eyes so fast he didn't have time to think. Explain. He panicked.

Lussi asked something.

The Daughters screamed something.

The Sun burned.

A man was there. He watched, silent. Lussi held his hand.

Her lips were next to his as she whispered 'I know what you've done Jaymse, and I will never forgive you.'

And with the sound of a flapping curtain, he was alone.

Even the daughter was gone.

Eventually Jaymse gathered the ability to sit up and think. Why was he uncoscious like that? Where did the daughter go?

He looked to where the man had been, but now it was simply his shell. The husk of his skin, holding no life.

Next to him was a glass Jaymse would find to have held poison - the same poison Jaymse then absorbed, leading to Lussi discovering him.

He'd been greedy.

He killed a father.

Lussi had left.

She was gone.

She got out.


	5. Chapter 5: A Bubble

Jaymse woke up again.

He shot up, buzzing. Moving was so easy, he was made to move, he had to run, had to think - what had happened? Had Lussi really left?

He darted to the curtain and threw it back, looking up to the moon. It was the same night. He'd dreamt it. He'd dreamt her leaving.

Often the nightmares happen when he took a little too much. He knew he'd killed the man, but he didn't want to drain him dry. Now he might get noticed.

He looked to the vial on the side, filled with the poison he'd dreamt of. The man had tried to kill himself, and then he'd taken that in. Would it affect him?

Of course it wouldn't, he was full of life. Full of it.

Lussi.

If she wasn't back in the tent, then he hadn't dreamt it, it was real and he'd just missed another day.

Thoughts bounced around Jaymse's head, confusing him, spurring him and spinning him. He needed her to be there. She had to be there. If she wasn't, he had no idea what he'd do - he'd disappointed her. She was the last thing he had going for him. He had to take care of her, keep her safe and secure and playing with her technology.

He darted back to the tent he had left Lussi in, their tent, throwing aside her curtain and bursting in, calling her name.

'Lussi?!'

Her bed seemed flat, but as he threw back the covers he saw her, curled up, with light blurring against her face.

'I'm sorry!' she cried out, throwing the device aside. 'I'm sorry Jaymse!'

'I... what?'

'I'm sorry! Don't take it away, please!'

'You were on your phone?'

'I'm so sorry...'

'But you're still here? You're okay?'

'I... what?'

'Lussi,' Jaymse sat at the end of her bed and patted her foot. 'You know I love you, like you were my little sister.'

'Yeah?'

'Well, I need you to trust me. I think we're going to have to leave again.'

'What?! No!'

'Lussi listen to me-'

'But you promised! You said at least one more market day!'

'And we'll stay for the market day, but after that we need to go, okay?'

'I like it here. I have friends.'

'Do you?'

'...No. I_ could_ have friends.'

'Do you remember home, Lussi?'

Lussi stared at him blankly for a moment. 'I don't think I do...'

'What do you remember? What's your earliest memory?'

'You and the others... we were hot, hurt. I wasn't. You were. Your face was different, but then you exploded and turned into you!'

'I did. Do you remember the Doctor?'

'Yeah, the Doctor. He was helping us but... he left.'

'Left?'

'Left.'

'Do you remember why he 'left'?'

'No, I don't. I'm confused, why are you asking me all of this?' Her eyes widened. 'I feel something. In my head... what is that?'

'Do you remember that feeling, Lussi?'

Lussi looked like she was going to panic. Her eyes were fixed on him, her hands shaking as she sat, shrouded in darkness, her silhouette trembling.

'Do you remember?'

'I...' Lussi looked at him, her eyes shining in the light from the main section of the tent - she was lost, it seemed. Lost inside some memory she wasn't sure she even had. 'I do...'

'Where is it from?'

'There's a place...'

'Yes?'

'It looks... it's in a bubble.'

'A bubble?'

'A huge bubble. And there's a temple inside...'

'That's home, Lussi. You remember!'

'What's it called?'

'Gallifrey. Home. That's where we come from, the Doctor, me, you, all of us. The Horsemen.'

'I take offence to that,' she said. 'Horse-people it should be. But that sounds like we look like Horses. What are we talking about?'

'Home, Lussi.'

'Oh. Yeah.'

'It's gone, though. We Time Lords, Lussi, we have a Hive mind. Had. It died, along with our world. We were supposed to die too, but we got out, remember? We cut ourselves off. The Doctor went off to fight his fights, and we never saw him again. Do you remember, Lussi?'

'Yeah... no.'

'The Doctor. I think he's coming back.'

'Isn't that good?'

'Maybe. Maybe not. Do you remember what they called us, Lussi?'

'The Horsemen. Slightly misogynistic, but whatever.'

'The Horsemen, that's right. Based on some old legend, all across the Universe. There are always four, always representing four different aspects of the end of times. Do you know what they were?'

'I remember Famine.'

'That's me, good.'

'You were Famine?'

'I was. And you were?'

She paused for a minute, eyes closed, going through these new memories that were cracked and over-exposed. 'Pestilence.'

'That's right.'

'And the Master... he was War.'

'And the Doctor, do you remember who he was? Why I want us to leave in his wake?'

'Death,' she said. 'The Doctor is Death.'


	6. Chapter 6: Harsh Whispers

Jaymse nodded, looking at her. 'He was. Do you know what that means?'

'No,' Lussi admitted. 'Is he coming?'

'I think so. If he wants to find us, he'll find us. I don't know what he wants with us but, that man... never has anything good happened around him. Why do you think we left him?'

Lussi frowned. 'You left him?'

'We did, Lussi. Can't you remember?'

She sniffed, looking away. 'No.'

'I'm sorry, I know you were... I know the war affected you. It hit us all in many ways, but you were so young. Rassilon chose you for your mind and forgot about your soul. We left the Doctor behind because we knew that only he could stop the war, but that meant he had to be in it. We got out of the war to save our species. We saved the universe, Lussi. But we did it without the Doctor.'

'And you think he's coming to get us for it?'

'I know I would,' Jaymse admitted. However, he knew the Doctor was a good man, at heart. Well, maybe not a good man. A powerful man. A terrible, good-hearted demon who swept across galaxies and wrecked species. A legend of Death and war and passion and selflessness. The Doctor was someone to be scared of.

Lussi checked her phone. It wasn't exactly a phone - it was more a multi-media scanner. You search what you want, it gives it to you in a thousand different ways, all of which tend to be slightly not what you actually want. Jaymse saw, upon the flexible screen, a blue coloured lain with white boxes surging across, all with different images.

'Lussi,' Jaymse said. She looked at him with wide eyes, lit up by the light of her phone.

'Yeah, Jaymse?'

'You know what?'

'What?'

'I'm really really sorry for everything you've been though. You're just a kid, you... you didn't deserve what happened to you.'

'I don't know what you mean, Jaymse... is everything okay? I mean, I know we sometimes hurt people and take their stuff, but if the Doctor's so bad, why would he come after us?'

'Because we hurt him, Lu.'

'But he didn't deserve it.'

'No, he didn't. Not really. But we needed to. Besides, once we left, the Doctor filled out our task.'

'Task?'

'Lussi, I'm not proud of what we did... what we were supposed to do... it was awful. We found another task, one that had to be filled, but the Doctor could never know. He had to stay.'

'So that's why,' came a voice.

From out of the light, out in the dark was a silhouette with a long coat and softly bouncing hair. He smiled as he stepped inside. 'How's life, Jaymse?'

'Doctor,' Jaymse turned out, away from Lussi. He stood between them. 'What are you doing here?'

'Oh, I thought you were telling Lussi exactly that,' the Doctor said, smiling slightly. 'What did he say, Lussi?'

'He said you were left behind, we left you behind...' she swallowed. 'Are you here to kill us?'

'Kill you?' the Doctor laughed as he sat down in Jaymse's chair. 'No, no no no. Don't be silly. I'm not that kind of guy.'

'You've regenerated,' Jaymse said.

'A few times. As have you, I guess.'

'Once or twice,' Jaymse said softly, still between the Doctor and Lussi. 'What are you doing here, then. Doctor.'

'I'm here to ask a favour, Jaymse.'

'A favour?'

'Yes, a favour. You left me in the Time War alone, I figure you owe me.'

'What can we owe you that's any use. We have a shiny chair, if you want it? Lussi's phone? Not much else of worth.'

'I have an idea!' The Doctor chimed, standing up and moving towards them. Lussi sat back on her bed, Jaymse guarding the doorway. The Doctor waved to Lussi past Jaymse, then patted him on the shoulder. 'How about you tell me how to find Carltesque, then we're good.'

'Carltesque?' Jaymse asked. 'Who's that?'

'Carl? My Great-grandson? You see, I figure you have something to do with it, seeing as Time Lords don't give birth. We have looms. Looms! Carl is Susan's son, but he was a product of cloning, of a sorts.'

'Cloning?'

'Of a sorts.'

'Why is that important to us?'

'Because Lussi, there, is the Universe leading expert on genetic manipulation.'

They both turned to her and she shrank into her sheets. 'Me? You're here for me?'

'You make that sound like I'm going to abduct you!' the Doctor laughed. At the word 'abducted' Lussi gave Jaymse a horrified look - he strengthened the barrier between them by forcing his palm into the Doctor chest. 'Hey now, Jaymse. We're friends.'

'Where did you come from?'

'I thought you were dead. Then I found Susan and Carl and the whole in the War that you lot came and plugged - well done on that by the way - and they told me of how you two had gone missing. You weren't here when they woke up. Carl was trapped inside a box, yada yada yada.'

'And they told you where we were,' Jaymse finished.

'Not quite. You two fell off the grid, I had no way of getting to you until I traced rumours of a shape shifter. 'That'll be Lussi', I thought. I followed the rumours, took me a while, but there was a tale of you two causing havoc on that beach, so I looked and, what d'ya know, there you were. Just leaving.'

'You never travel alone, not before the war. What about after?'

'I have a friend. Clara.'

'Is she going to die too?' Lussi asked.

'Die?' the Doctor stopped and thought. 'Eventually, I suppose. She's human. But not of any cause of mine. Clara's a great person, clever, quick, sharp. But human.'

'Do you want her not to be?' Lussi asked.

'Lussi,' Jaymse said, trying to quiet her.

'No no, let her speak,' the Doctor insisted. 'What did you say?'

'Well,' Lussi closed her eyes. 'If I could turn her into a Time Lord so she'd live forever, would you leave us alone?'

The Doctor took a step back. 'You're bargaining to get rid of me,' he said, nodding. 'I know I'm not going to get your help. I just thought it was a good idea.'

Turning to leave, the Doctor gave Lussi a wave and Jaymse a nod. 'Good to see you two happy,' he said.

He left the tent as dawn broke and, wandering down the market place, saw a crowd of people gathering round one of the tents. Harsh whispers and sheltered children drew the Doctor in towards the commotion.

A screaming girl is what had him asking questions.


	7. Chapter 7: Famished

'What happened?' someone called.

'He's dead!' someone else yelled, followed by another cry from the little girl.

'Will you shut up! His daughter's right here!'

'Where are the medics?'

'Who's that?!' someone asked, finally noticing the Doctor.

'Who, me?' he span around, looking for someone else. 'I'm a traveller.'

'What's a traveller doing here?' The woman who had noticed him was hunched over, her one remaining eye focused in on him, boring a hole in him. 'It's long past market time. Next season's not here yet.'

'Visiting an old friend,' he said, defending himself. 'Lives back there, you know him?'

The woman stayed silent, still boring that hole in the Doctor's face, and moved around him towards Jaymse's tent. She produced a metal cane (that apparently, she was fine walking without) from under her long coat and smacked a post of Jaymse's stall. A few moments later, he emerged, a look of confusion and fatigue strewn across his face.

'What's going on? Something up?'

'We need you to assert an alibi,' said the woman. 'In fact, you look tired. How do we know you didn't do it?'

'Do what?'

'Hmph. Fine.' She span and pointed at the Doctor with her staff. 'Do you know who that man is?'

Jaymse looked at the Doctor, thinking. He knew that he'd killed the man from the Electronics shop, and he knew that the Doctor would know instantly upon inspection that he was a killer. The he'd take Lussi away. Or he'd kill him. The last thing he wanted to do was get on the wrong side of the Doctor, but at the same time, he and Lussi had a new life here. She had no idea what he was doing, nor that her technological advances were going to help him in the long run. She was so clueless, like a daughter to him. They had met in war, now they had a great life. A fine, mostly innocent life.

He could do it. He could get rid of the Doctor. Whatever stupid adventure he was off on now was probably never going to affect Lussi, or him. He had spent enough time trying to get away. Now it was time to act.

'No, I have no idea who that is,' Jaymse said.

Instantly the Doctor's eyes flexed. He saw the recognition in his eyes and... nothing. The Doctor did nothing.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she stalked up to the Doctor. 'How long have you been here, son?' she asked.

'A night,' the Doctor answered. 'Although I'm fairly certain you're not going to believe me anyway. It's not me. Whatever happened, it wasn't me.'

'He's dead,' the woman said accusingly.

'It wasn't me,' said the Doctor with a glance to Jaymse. 'But I'm sure I can help you figure out who it was.'

Without letting her react, the Doctor turned and sauntered towards the tent where the man lay, still on his sofa, face-up. The Doctor saw his stained-blue veins and white pupils from a distance and knew what had happened.

Then he felt he cuffs close on his wrists.

'Now, just hold on- Ow!' he cried out as the large, stone-like creature dragged him along towards a deep-black ship that had landed silently nearby. Damn. A Medusa Cascade bounty-hunter.

Ah well, they knew him there... though maybe not in a good way.

Jaymse watched from a distance, Lussi hiding behind him. She tugged on his coat, rubbing her eyes. 'What's going on?'

'They're taking the Doctor away, Lussi.'

'Oh.' She frowned. 'Why?'

'Because he's a bad man who did a bad thing.'

'You know, you talk to me like I'm a child.'

'What?'

'You said 'bad man'. I've killed people, I know what a murderer looks like. We all look like them. We're bad people. Why don't they take us away?'

'Because they don't know about any of it.'

'Should we tell them?'

'Not if you want to stay here, no.'

'Oh. Okay.' She paused for a second, then punched him on the shoulder. It took him by surprise, knocking him out of the tent opening just as the black ship silently floated away.

'What the hell?'

'I'm not a child,' she said, annoyed.

'I know that. I've seen you do very... adult things.'

'That sounds dirty.'

'I didn't mean that. And besides, the fact that you thought it was dirty kinda confirms you're not a child.'

'I'm dangerous.'

'Terrifying.'

Lussi, with a smile, switched her newly-updated device (that was now wrist-attached, mind you), and silently shifted into blue light.

Shortly after, Jaymse turned around to leave the scene to find a huge, drooling beast in his living room. He yelped, then stopped and realised who it was.

'I hate you.'

'Nah,' said the beast that was Lussi. 'You don't.'

Jaymse laughed, then took one last look outside. 'I think we're going to have to move sooner.'

'But you promised we'd do one last market!' the beast pouted.

'I'm breaking my promise,' Jaymse admitted, indifferent. 'He's killed someone, and I think he's coming back, Lussi.'

'The Doctor?'

'I've seen him tear down armies and wield enough power to rule the cosmos.'

'Me too...' it whispered.

'But the most terrible, awful thing the Doctor does is when he ignores that power. Gives it to someone less worthy. Someone who'll abuse it. He ignores how amazing he could be and develops an idiot to power. He ruins all he touches.'

'I guess that's why they call him Death, then.'

'No one does, not anymore,' Jaymse said. 'He didn't have much of a name in the war. He didn't go by 'Doctor', not really. It was the same man, but not the same code. I'm just... I don't know if he took the name back up, for real. Maybe he left it behind when he became the monster we worked with.'

'Well,' Lussi said, suddenly back in her usual form. 'If he's killed someone, then I'm guessing not. If he's still killing like that, then he must still have some of the war in him. Maybe it'll never leave.'

'Yeah,' Jaymse nodding, thinking how potent it was that she'd said that just as he was starting to feel those urges again. Already.

He was famished.


End file.
